The railway system in Germany is set to undergo digitalization and become future-proof. Technological innovations based on new digital technologies are one of the key levers for achieving this goal. Integrating these new digital technologies into the railway system is the responsibility of the Digitalization Rail System department within the "Digital Rail Germany" program.

While the teams of the department started with a clear goal and a well-thought-out approach for developing the digital railway system, there is no blueprint for the railway system of the future: it must be entirely reimagined. To generate the necessary innovation, many experts must come together, exchanging their ideas in a self-organized manner, and shaping outcomes through flat hierarchies, swift decision-making processes, and rapid prototyping.

The leadership of the Digitalization Rail System department recognized from the outset, during the setup phase of the department, that the complex challenges could not be addressed with a traditional, statically structured organization. Therefore, since the project's inception in 2017, we have been privileged to assist the team in establishing a self-organizing organization based on The Loop Approach®.

Back then, the team was very small but expected to grow rapidly. Initially, it was crucial for the organization to establish healthy and sustainable structures that could later be scaled effectively.

This is how we accompanied the first three teams and the steering group on their Loop journey through the three modules: Clarity, Results, and Evolution, which made the seven qualities of self-organization tangible to all team members. Concurrently, we conducted facilitation training and nonviolent communication workshops with some employees to help establish a healthy feedback system.

In the next step, we collaboratively developed a Loop onboarding process, which has since been revised and refined, to assist the growing number of employees in adapting to the team's new agile ways of working.

Today, an established "Loop Circle" as part of organizational and personnel development ensures that the department, now comprising 200 employees, continues to evolve its needs-based operating system based on principles of self-organization. This ability is the core competency of self-organized teams and companies: continually evolving, changing rules, complementing roles, and making responsibilities transparent.

Just like all teams organizing themselves along Loop principles, the Digitalization Rail System team has found their own unique way of collaboration. For them, it's crucial to understand that self-organization does not mean the absence of hierarchies and responsibilities. On the contrary, individual responsibilities are explicitly defined through governance processes and role definitions, visible to everyone. The difference lies in the fact that hierarchical structure emerges based on expertise, where individuals with the best competencies for a current project phase take the lead. Hierarchy in self-organization is therefore competency-based, effectively guiding the team to consistently align their work with the overarching mission: designing a future-proof railway system.

200

employees working self-organized based on The Loop Approach^®.

45

Loop onboarding sessions conducted by the Loop Circle helped new employees integrate into the existing self-organized structures.

17

Clear-the-Air trainings conducted.

5

Circle Lead trainings conducted.